Winter, Day 29 - Spireno

[7:28 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): Ellis had been awake when he felt the surges of power at the edge of his territory. Nothing about it felt inherently malevolent, so under normal circumstances, he would have walked on foot to see what was happening. These were not normal circumstances, though; he had souls to guard, and he was on-edge enough to get to the scene of the commotion immediately. There was, of course, only one way to do that. 

The only warning anyone present would have--be they god, titan, or kami--was the sudden appearance of a tall scepter: coppery, plain, the round length of the scepter squaring off into a stylized septagon-shape than dipped towards the center, to form a bowl-like depression on the top. A pale fire blazed in that bowl, and seven blue eyes stared out from each face of the septagon. For a moment the scepter stood alone, and then the rest of Vemasiel caught up with it. The angel was never a simple or easy sight to take in, but whether by design or chance, Set’s final standoff had occurred during the ninth hour of night--Vemasiel’s hour. 

The angel filled the sky over Spireno Farms. 

At the same time, he appeared much as he had in Hades’s domain--an impressively-sized, nonsensical creature, all celestial fire and eye-studded wings and wheels… and a crown adorned with brilliant red poppies that pulsed with a power that was not his. His movements seemed mirrored by the starry sky behind him in a way that was difficult for the eye to reconcile. 

Any other time, such a sight would have been arresting, perhaps even frightening, but the angel was riveted on the scene before him. He didn’t try to speak, and only drifted forward once, abortively--Seth had been right. Vemasiel would have tried to interfere, if he could, running on instinct.

.(edited)

[7:28 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): The time between the realization of what was happening and the end seemed both agonizing and over so quickly that there was no time to process it. When Typhon stood, turning to wave at them in his stolen form, the angel stared back impassively. It was impossible to know what he was thinking or feeling in that moment. Then the serpent was gone, and slowly, the angel’s eyes sunk back down to the ground where Set had ended his life, on his own terms. 

The dark blue swirling mass at Vemasiel’s center, that nebulous roiling motion that formed his heart, began to surge and twist erratically, like a smoky cloud was tearing itself to shreds. Slowly, the innumerable eyes closed. Vemasiel’s wings sank. The echo of that motion swept behind him through the sky. “Oh, Shiori,” he said, simply. Shiori would recognize the winding choral tones as being similar, but louder and richer than the ones she’d heard in his home. The emotion threading through them, though, was one of very human sadness.

The angel lowered slowly to the ground, not bothering to change out of his true form. It was easier to deal with the sadness, this way--because he was sad. The angel paused for one moment before he settled, wheels resting on the earth, his lower sets of wings akimbo. He grieved for the being who’d done this, a being who had shown him a unique sort of kindness--irritating, but still kind--a being he now would never know. Vemasiel was surprised by how much it all hurt.

How was he going to tell Anja? 

The downed angel didn’t look like he was in any hurry to get up. The celestial fires were guttering low and dark. Finally, he raised many of his eyes to Shiori. “Thank you,” he finally said, softly, “for honoring his wishes.” 

<d> @Anja Degan (Annie)

[8:29 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): The crow too had been awake, when the angel rushed out. But the wild bird didn’t know to be concerned. 

Until she felt it, that pain. The anguish of sudden loss as the tie was severed, even in this form. Like an aspect of her soul had suddenly been plucked from her. A screech tore out from the bird, mournful and aching. 

A few seconds later, as a heart was willingly sacrificed on the edge of the property, the crow unfurled itself. The curse dropped away, no humming or turbulent transformation, and that screech became a scream. 

Anja’s mind came back to her in an instant, now kneeling on the floor of the farmhouse, as she felt the loss of that cut thread. More painful than in her other form. The loss of that bond she had spoken into existence. The bond they both accepted. The bond that they had both continued to strengthen. 

It felt as if everything in her had been emptied, torn out and replaced by a wrenching of grief and pain. More pain than the fighter had ever experienced. Because she knew. It felt like part of herself was dying in that moment because it had. He had. She knew.

Set was dead. 

”SET!”

The scream that ripped out of Anja, the raw anguish and rage and grief, echoed out of the farmhouse. As loud and as powerful as a clap of thunder. Echoing up into the sky above. Clouds, thick and dark, began to gather over the property, providing a source for the rain that was already falling. Rain that came heavier now.

The tears of the fallen storm god were being joined by those of his consort. His Queen. His StormBringer.

It took every ounce of willpower for Anja to move herself, to not let that grief consume her. Despite the very core of her aching to do so. But she pushed herself up. Face wet with the tears she couldn’t hold back, she struggled to the door. Throwing on one of Ellis’s coats, which hung like a dress on her shaking form once zipped, she nearly sprinted out of the house.(edited)

[8:30 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): .

”ELLIS!” Her voice was hoarse when she shouted, but she had to… she had to do something. She had to find the angel, she needed to find out what happened, she— She spotted what looked like familiar wings despite being attached to an unfamiliar form near the edge of the property. Sprinting towards them in the rain that continued to pour down, Anja screamed out again. Lightning flashing in response to the anguish in her chest at her yell.

”Ellis!”

<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)

[10:00 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Despite the rain, the flames adorning Inari's tail did not dim, nor flicker, nor react seemingly at all. The kami stood, hands clenched into fists even as they felt the power snap away and into Anja, where it was wished to go.

The kami sensed, heard Vemasiel's approach, but the gold-silver swirl of their eyes only barely acknowledged his presence before they turned to the spear, to the box it was impaling. A hand reached out and yanked, pulling it free from the box and clenching around the spear's haft. If it weren't for the fact of fur on their hands, one might see how white-knuckled the grip really was.

"Don't," they said, in a quiet, stern voice. "Please, Vemasiel." The voice softened only marginally. "Do not thank me for what I have done."

The kami turned in the next moment, hearing the anguished cry of Anja. Feeling the rain beating down, though their fur did not wetten despite the downpour.

Inari watched the direction Typhon was leaving, watched Anja as she approached, and in that moment made a decision. All nine spheres of fire flared up from their tails and streamed away. They were spinning, lazily at first, forming a circle, until it grew faster, faster, faster, blurring the flames together until they encirlced kami, angel, and demigoddess, a wall of divine flame shielding them from Typhon's sight.

The kami did not care that it was a beacon of light. Mortals would logic it away, and any divine willing to come and investigate, should they be unfriendly, would answer to them.

Their thumb brushed over the spear's inlay, feeling the intricate details. "Kuro." They said, reaching out their free hand. "The letters. Before the rain ruins them."

The dark fox obliged, passing the envelopes to the kami. Neither of their recipients was in a state to receive them. Not yet. But they would make certain that they were received.

<d> @Ellis Hanoch (CC)

[10:15 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): ”Do not thank me for what I have done.” 

Vemasiel opened the eyes on his wheels. He hesitated a moment, watching as Inari held the spear, watching as she conjured the wall of light. She was a difficult kami to read, but... “Inari,” he said quietly, extending one wing forward and sweeping it to her side. He nudged her gently with the wrist-joint, encouraging her to come closer, clearly wanting to enfold her in his snowy feathers. “Giving your life to save someone you love,” he said quietly, “it’s… something I understand. I would want anyone to honor my wishes.” 

It was something he understood. It didn’t make the situation hurt any less, but he at least knew he would have done the same, in Set’s place. The resonant cosmic choir of his voice lowered, softened. “I know it mustn’t have been easy for you.”

At the sound of Anja’s voice, the rest of angel’s eyes snapped open and he tilted two of his wings backwards to bring Anja into view. He didn’t know how she’d become human, he didn’t--the lightning flashed, and Vemasiel felt the tether between her and the sky, could feel the influence she was exerting on the storm above--but as shocking as it all was, the most important thing was the anguish in her voice, calling for him, for comfort. 

“Anja,” he extended a wing, beckoning her close. As soon as she was near enough, he deftly scooped her up, squinting the eyes of that wing shut as it enfolded her, and drew her up against another wing. It would be difficult for Anja--or indeed, any outside observer--to tell exactly where she’d been folded up in his mass, but Anja was surrounded by warm, soft feathers, and one of the wings tightened around her shoulders like a hug. Vemasiel was determined to comfort her, and physics be damned.

[10:16 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): .

“I’m sorry,” the angel murmured, his intertwined voices pitched low, “I’m so, so sorry.”

If they both accepted the angel’s offer, he would have pulled them both close--Anja clear off her feet, and Inari in a one-winged hug. The celestial fires that surrounded the pale blue cloud of his heart were as unaffected by the powerful storm as Inari’s. in the places they licked through the feathers, they wouldn’t burn either of his friends. Vemasiel’s smoky heart was still writhing and roiling, shreds of smoky matter separating and re-joining endlessly, but the rest of him was still.

<d> @Anja Degan (Annie)(edited)

[11:04 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja had never seen Ellis’s true form, nor Shiori’s. But that didn’t stop her from recognizing his wings or the soft tenor of his voice, even in its layered celestial choir, as he reached out for her. She saw too, the divine fire that surrounded them from Shiori. But she was in shock. From the pain, that soul tearing agony, and the bottomless grief that crashed through her.  She was shouting to to the angel, frantic in her anguished state, even as he scooped her up. 

“Ellis! He’s— HE’S GONE!” Another crack of thunder rolled through the clouds overhead. Her hands tightened around his feathers, grabbing purchase on his wing, drawing her legs up. 

“I don’t know what happened but he’s gone, Ellis. Seth’s gone!” When the other wing enveloped her, she let that grief and rage curl herself into a ball amongst the soft warm feathers. She was still crying, her frame still shaking with that emotion. Letting herself feel it through that shock. Letting that pain fuel that rage and grief in her. She didn’t truly know how she was positioned within the cocoon of wings, but she buried her face between her clenched fists. Pressing her face into the feathers and screaming as that fury fed off of the loss and anger.

“I’M GOING TO EAT THAT FUCKING SNAKE!”

The storm overhead echoed her rage. Lightning flashing and the crack of thunder reverberated with all that divine anger. 

<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)(edited)

[11:34 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Unlike Anja, Inari did not accept Vemasiel's embrace. They did not, at present, feel deserving of that comfort. They did not push his wing away when he brushed it against them, but stepped away after, standing now at the point where Seth had called out his wish.

Called out to Inari. Because he had known who they were. Known what they were capable of. Known, too, that the lines had blurred, and known that Inari knew it.

Behind them, nine tails flicked and twitched in a beat that no one without tails would recognize: anger/hurt/pain/anger/sadness/anger/frustration/anger. Their hand could not possibly tighten about the spear any more than it already was, but they certainly tried.

Anja's cries felt like a slap to the face.

He's gone. 

He was, his form assumed by Typhon, his life force, his immortality, residing now within Anja.

I don't know what happened. 

Inari did, and it was a bitter knowledge, that he had given his life for a wish. A wish Inari had no real choice but to grant. If they had not granted it - and ignoring one with that power was nigh impossible - Typhon would have consumed Seth regardless, taken his power, and Anja would either have been taken by Typhon, died from plague, or been stuck as a crow for the rest of her mortal life.

Inari knew this. Giving one's life was, in truth, a noble act.

But forcing another to be a part of that act was in its own way cruel.

Around the trio, the fox-fires whirled together in a storm of light, blending together until the colors were gone and only white remained.

Anger/sadness/anger/pain/anger/frustration.

Inari's face seemed to change, a subtle shift at first, a divine mask settling down and hardening the human appearance. White, with red, black, and gold designs intricately painted, a porcelain mask concealing their true face without transforming it to that of the fox.

<d> @Ellis Hanoch (CC)

[11:51 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): Vemasiel didn’t try and shepherd Inari back to his side, but the eyes on the wing that had reached for her did look out after her as she stepped away. He didn’t entirely know her reason for pulling back, but he would respect it. The wing remained extended, though, and the eyes continued to gaze after her; if she looked back, she would see that they were filled with an expression of mixed beseeching and concern.

“I know,” he murmured to Anja as gently as the chorus of his voices would allow, “I know. I’m so sorry, Anja.” Now was not, he felt, the time to explain the minutiae. She was human, and needed to feel her emotions the way a human needed to, without stopping to filter and categorize them. Vemasiel didn’t try to stifle her cries or her rage. Her screams were tearing the sky open, but she needed this. 

And, like the death of Ichabod, like the death of Seth, her cries also tore another wound in the angel’s battered heart. “It’s all right. I’m here.” Vemasiel wouldn’t release her until she wanted to be released. Somewhere, at the heart of the farm, the souls under his care had retreated as far as they could in terror--later, he would feel guilty for that, would apologize to them. For now, though, he remained where he was. 

But he hadn’t failed to notice that the benign he counted among his best friends had turned away, tails lashing in a way that did not seem peaceful, even to a being who didn’t possess them. “In--” He stopped, remembering his company. “Kami,” he said, figuring it was the safest thing he could settle on, “I…”

[11:51 PM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): .

What could he say? What could he say? He felt the threat of a slip somewhere at the back of his mind, the same grey feedback loop of despair that he’d felt at Elysian Fields. Vemasiel clung grimly to lucidity, though, because there were people who depended on him. “Are you...?” Of course she wasn’t okay. Vemasiel stopped. “Can I help?” he finally asked, softly. The wing was still extended, the eyes still staring.

<d> @Anja Degan (Annie)(edited)

February 1, 2021

[12:35 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja remained curled up, her body shaking within Ellis’s hold, her face still buried within his feathers. Her rage was thrumming in her chest, spiraling as it fed off that well of emotion. She sucked in deep breaths, trying to understand what had happened. Trying to understand any of it. 

Some normal thought began to filter through her, even though it was driven by that fury. She wasn’t sure why Shiori was here. Or why Ellis kept saying he knew. She needed to know what was happening. I need to know what happened.

Anja released her hold on the feathers.  Attempting to push her head out or find whichever way let her look around them. Attempting to look at the Kami nearby and to look at Ellis, though she wasn’t sure what part was his face if the eyes were everywhere. But even so, she looked at the angel, still crying. Still shaking with all that fury and pain as she managed to finally find something grasp onto amidst her grief. 

“What’s going on? What happened?”

<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)(edited)

[12:51 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami's tails continued their erratic flicking. They knew that Vemasiel was only trying to help. They knew that he cared, and was concerned.

But Inari felt wholly unworthy of it. In this moment, it was not their place to accept concern, worry, assistance.

"You can help, aoimoku, by taking care of Anja. She needs you more than I do right now," was their simple, soft reply, their voice oddly hollowed by the mask that had settled over their face.

Gold-silver swirling eyes turned to face the angel when Anja stirred from the angel's winged embrace.

What happened?

The kami's eyes closed for a brief moment, steeling themselves for what was to come.

"Set made a wish. A wish powered by a thousand cranes... and the sacrifice of his own immortality. His life." Cranes made with care, with love. A heart torn from his very chest. Offerings to the kami of wishes.

Any other spear, the way they gripped it would have had their claws gouging into it. This one did not. The kami would not relinquish it either, knowing, somehow, that they needed to keep it safe.

"He wished for a bond to be severed, so a curse would be lifted, so a mortal would be healed." So she would ascend. "He made a wish out of love, Anja Stormcrow." Love he had done his best to ignore, to refuse. And despite that, it had been almost impossible to find a weakness in the binding thread, a place where Inari's divine blade could slice it and sever the tie.

No, they were not worthy of being here. Not right now.

The kami held out the letters, bloodied envelopes a stinging reminder. Had he been even a minute too late to call out for Inari... had Kuro not been at Spireno... a thousand 'what ifs'.

"He gave these to Kuro, bade him make sure they would reach you. Both of you. I imagine what is inside will provide more detail than I am able."

Anger/pain/sadness.

<d> @Ellis Hanoch (CC)

[1:11 AM] Ellis Hanoch (CC): Some part of Vemasiel, the part that was keenly aware of how badly he’d failed to save anyone since he came here, the part that remembered both Ichabod and Set’s final moments, came surging back. It whispered Not enough, not enough, insignificant Principality, you can’t help her, you’re not enough, but he forced it down, down and away. Not now. Not when people needed him. He would face those awful truths later.

The wing withdrew, and the eyes averted their gazes from Inari, ashamed.

Vemasiel let Inari explain while he cradled Anja in his wing. It wasn’t until after she’d spoken that he deigned to add, “He… he recognized that his time was at an end. And he made a choice. It… wasn’t the only choice he could make. But it was the choice he wanted to. I think…” He remembered the feeling of Anja’s grief calling down lightning from the sky. “I think he gave you what was left of him, Anja.”

The angel’s feather had been permanently fused to the spear. The row of tiny eyes along its length blinked, looked out at its surroundings, and the up at its wielder. There was no emotion in those tiny eyes besides curiosity. They stared at Inari with the innocence of a simple animal.

Back on the nonsensical anatomy that was Vemasial, the multitudinous eyes that weren’t fixed on Anja looked back to Inari, and then down to Kuro. “Thank you,” the angel said softly. The chorus of his voice was softening, each tone gradually collapsing on the other. For a moment he faltered, unsure of what to do, but Vemasiel rallied as much as he was able, crushed down the parts of him that had the audacity to feel pain when there were others who needed him. 

Or tried to, anyway. 

“Anja,” he murmured again, “I… I can’t make this right. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

<d> @Dead Anniemal#5026(edited)

[1:51 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): A wish. Sacrifice. His life. 

As those words washed over her, the storm continued rage. Thundering angrily over them as each phrase that felt like a wound to Anja’s soul sunk in. 

Sacrifice hadn’t been an option in Anja’s mind. She told herself that she wouldn’t allow it. She had forbidden it, and Seth, as he always did, had broken the rules. 

’—a bond to be severed, so a curse would be lifted, so a mortal would be healed.’

I didn’t want this. Not like this. Not without him. She would have taken an existence of the crow over this. Would have taken any other option. 

’He made a wish out of love, Anja Stormcrow.’

A shuddering breath heaved from her at those words. She knew. And yet those words still stoked the pain and anger in her. And some part of her knew what Ellis said was true too. 

It was the choice he wanted to make when the wolves were finally knocking down his door. He was always so fucking stubborn and after everything, he would choose to die on his own terms.

’I think he gave you what was left of him, Anja.’

That too she knew to be true, though not in the way Ellis meant it. We have given so much of ourselves to each other. They had given each other nearly everything. And she would have never asked for what was left.

“You were enough.” Those words were not screamed. They did not echo in the storm overhead. Merely left Anja in a hoarse whisper as her eyes closed. 

She opened them as she caught the mention of letters. Trying desperately to fight through the pain coursing in her chest. And then Ellis was speaking her name again. She pushed her hands back into the massive wings, gripping feathers once more if she was able. A touch of both comfort and shared grief. “It’s— I know, it’s okay, El.”

[6:50 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): It wasn't the only choice he could make.

Maybe. Maybe not. The fact remained, though, that he had made it. And Inari, capable of crossing pantheons yet still, in some ways, immutable... had been bound by the act of his wish.

Set would have died that night no matter what Inari did. Had the wish not been granted, he would have died wholly in vain.

Inari understood this on a visceral level and yet, hearing Anja, seeing her...

Not worthy. The thought came unbidden, again and again.

It was the choice he wanted to make.

Had he? Inari, with strong ties to wishes, knew the truth. He hadn't wanted to, not really. But he felt he needed to, and the need overpowered the want. The need to keep Anja safe, the need to not give the snake what it wanted, the need to end on his own terms.

He hadn't wanted it. When Inari had asked for confirmation, they had felt it. But he knew what needed to be done.

Frustration/pain/anger.

You were enough.

That snapped Inari's attention fully back to Anja, and sharpened their inner mantra. This was not the place for them. They had done what they had been called to do. No amount of wishing on their part could change anything. The rules, in this case, were the rules.

Sadness/anger/hurt.

.

[6:50 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Inari pulled an ofuda from their sleeve, the characters on it appearing even as they leaned over. Kuro. Take the letters. See them delivered tonight. The kami placed the ofuda upon the fox's head, the scrip sinking in, protection from the rain to keep him and the letters dry, protection that would expire as soon as his task was done. He took the letters back in his teeth, carefully holding them and moving to stand somewhere beneath the angel, though he never turned away from where Typhon had been, watchful and wary.

The wall of fire that had cycloned around them receded slowly, the orbs of flame rejoining Inari's tails.

"Vemasiel. Please take care of her."

A pause, and Inari turned their gaze to Anja, expression hidden beneath their mask. "When you are well and strong enough to hunt, I would lend you my aid."

No place for Inari, not here, not now. They straightened and began to walk away. Back to Foxpoint, and to a presence that awaited them there.

<d> @Ellis Hanoch (CC) 

SHIORI out of scene